New Shoes! Blackspot V1 Red
Originally published at House of Scott. You can comment here or there.
As you can see my classic V1’s were getting pretty ratty. Eyelets were popping loose, big ol’ crack on the bottom, faded hemp, fraying laces. It was certainly time for a new pair so I didn’t look homeless at work. So I got a red pair! Still breaking them in, hopefully my feet won’t bleed like the old pair did when I broke those in. The things I do for ethical fashion.
A little about the shoe: the fabric is hemp, no sweatshops were involved in the process of manufacturing, the logo is hand painted on (but it’s just a big circle) and they’re pretty bad ass. The whole concept of the shoe itself is to go up against the footware giants to prove that an ethically designed shoe can be successful and profitable in today’s market and to steal a little thunder from those exploiting populations in poorer countries and neighbourhoods and use processes that are harmful to the environment.
John Fluevog was even commissioned to design a style. Honestly though, I’d be hesitant to order another pair of the Unswoosher since the top seam on both shoes almost immediately split upon purchase. Plus they don’t have much support and hurt my flat feet if I’m on them for hours on end. But I bought them when the style was new and the manufacturing process was probably still being developed. I still have them and wear them but it took a lot of scrubbing to get the faux dirt out of them. I’ve read since then they’ve ditched the faux dirt look since it was largely hated and hopefully they’ve tightened up their manufacturing standards. There may be a replacement pair in my future yet.